100-Year-Old Women in a Tiny Sardinian Village Could Make it the World’s Next Blue Zone

In a remote village nestled amongst the mountains of Sardinia, women are three times more likely to become centenarians compared to women in the United States, according to a recent study. Published in Frontiers of Aging, the research reveals that Bolotana, a village of 2,300 residents, boasts an extraordinary number of women living to an exceptionally old age.

Co-study author Jay Olshansky, a professor emeritus of epidemiology at the University of Illinois Chicago, attributes this phenomenon to the village's extensive historical records, which date back centuries and enable independent verification of ages at birth and death. The team, in collaboration with National Geographic, has identified 38 centenarians among the 3,060 people born in Bolotana between 1900 and 1925.

Women in this village have a 13.8 percent chance of surviving to the age of 100 after reaching 70, compared to the national average of just 3.5 percent in Italy and 3.6 percent in the United States. The researchers are investigating the unique lifestyle factors contributing to this longevity, including the village's mountainous location, the predominantly Mediterranean diet, strong family bonds, and robust social connections.